Ask Steve

OK @stevescookin I thought I would make this thread so people could ask you stuff about food.

The other night I cooked some thin cut filets of boneless skinless chicken breasts. Marinated with Italian and Ranch dressings and lime juice. I seasoned them and sauted them in olive oil with onions and garlic. Ate with creamed spinach and stewed okra and tomatoes. Very tender. I had a couple left over and I put them in a plastic container and sealed the lid and put it in the fridge.

Tonight I took them out but they were as dry and tough as shoe leather. Even my cat won't eat them. What's the best way to store something like that?

Sorry I'm late to respond but it sounds like the chicken breasts were over cooked either the first time or when they were re heated. Once they're cooked dry for whatever reason, it's almost impossible to rehydrate them. Even if you cut them up and put them in soup or gumbo, they're still relatively dry and tough.

I wonder if injecting saline or marinade helps. I never tried it. I never tried this either but maybe you could turn the chicken into something like potted meat with a food processor and some stock... And use it to make a pate or a sauce or even boudin and use it on top of some other chicken breasts or as a stuffing.

Using a sauce moistens meat as you chew, but it's not getting moisture back into the muscle fiber cells.

I saw recipes from the first Creole cookbook published by the Times Picayune in the late 1800s that included tomatoes. Also a recipe from Maylie's restaurant (an old Creole restaurant) that called for tomatoes too.

These days, people claim that tomatoes never belong in gumbo...like there's a rule out there. To me, gumbo is more of a cooking method than a recipe. Back then, there was no refrigeration and their #1 rule was not to waste perishable ingredients like tomatoes that were lying around the kitchen.